Bellingham Practice Also known as The Bellingham Practice

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

We looked for evidence that staff monitored people’s care and treatment and supported them to live healthier lives. At our last assessment, we rated this key question as good. At this assessment, the rating remains the same.

This service scored 79 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Assessing needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

Staff focussed on identifying risks to people’s health and supported national priorities and initiatives to improve population health, including smoking cessation, weight management, cancer screening and vaccination programmes. The practice participated in population health work to identify and support veterans and their families. The practice had also identified barriers associated with its rural location and had plans to provide outreach NHS Health Checks in local community venues to improve access to preventative healthcare.

The practice also promoted local initiatives to support people’s health and wellbeing. For example, the Patient Participation Group (PPG) described community activities, including craft sessions and a local ‘Chatty Café’, which provided opportunities for social interaction and helped reduce isolation.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured outcomes were positive, consistent and met the expectations of people themselves.

Published data showed the service met national targets for cervical screening uptake and achieved the World Health Organization (WHO) target of 95% across all childhood immunisation indicators.

There was active engagement in activities to monitor and improve quality and outcomes. In July 2026, the practice reviewed the effectiveness of its weekly multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings, which brought together practice and community professionals, including GPs, district nurses, a community paramedic, frailty staff and palliative care professionals. This supported coordinated care for people with complex needs within the practice’s rural population. Participants reported benefits including improved coordination of care for patients with complex needs, timely decision-making and improved communication between professionals. Findings were used to identify further actions to improve communication and information sharing between MDT members and support ongoing service development.

Between June and August 2026, the practice also undertook quality improvement work to review its long-term condition recall and monitoring processes against current guidance. A review of 173 patients identified opportunities to reduce unnecessary testing and appointment time while ensuring monitoring reflected patients’ clinical needs. The practice revised its recall and testing arrangements and estimated the changes could release around 19 hours of clinical appointment capacity over 3 months. Monthly monitoring was introduced, with a re-audit planned in 18 months to assess the impact of changes.

Outcomes for people were positive, consistent and regularly exceed expectations. Between June and November 2025, the practice undertook quality improvement work with the Integrated Care Board (ICB) to evaluate continuity of care. Using a recognised measure of how consistently patients saw the same GP, the practice achieved a score of 0.757, where a score of 0.7 or above indicated good continuity. At the time of the review, the 2025 National GP Patient Survey results showed 63% of patients who responded reported they usually saw or spoke with their preferred healthcare professional, compared with 40% nationally. The 2026 National GP Patient Survey showed this had increased to 80% compared with 42% nationally. The ICB invited the practice to act as a Beacon practice for continuity of care, recognising its approach as an example of good practice that could be shared with other practices.

The practice was actively involved in clinical research and participated in a range of studies, including research relating to the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and menopause management.

We did not look at Consent to care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.